Disclaimer: Don't own it.
When Buffy woke up, the first thing she noticed was that there was someone else in her bed. She panicked slightly, before realizing that it was just Spike. She looked at him sleep, noting that his chest didn't rise and fall like it did when he was awake. She noted how peaceful he looked, almost angelic.
She thought back to last night. They had spent some real quality time together (alright, most people spent quality time with their partners by watching a movie or playing Scrabble, but she was a Slayer; it was perfectly normal for her version of 'quality time' to be going out to a cemetery at midnight to kill the undead). She had been a little nervous about inviting him to sleep in the same bed with her last night, expecting him to be a total as. His expression when she told him to lay down with her, however, had surprised her. He had looked almost nervous, and was very stiff when he held her, as though he was afraid that he was going to break her.
She got up and took the pink robe off the back of her bedroom door, putting it on and making her way to the bathroom for a shower. Twenty minutes later, she walked back into her room, wrapped in the bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that Spike was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigarette. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow at her lack of clothing. Ass, she thought. After a moment she continued drying her hair, trying to ignore him.
"Morning, love," Spike said, standing up to flick his cigarette ash out the window.
"Really wish you wouldn't smoke that in here," Buffy replied. Spike raised an eyebrow at her again, before rolling his eyes and tossing the rest of his cigarette out the window. She goes out every night and hunts down vampires and yet she worries about a cigarette endangering her health, he thought. He didn't mind so much, though; he considered himself lucky to be allowed into her bedroom. He wasn't about to bitch about anything.
Buffy went over to her dresser, getting out a pair of jeans and a black blouse, along with undergarnments. He forced himself to look away when she took out her bra and underwear. You want her to think you're a perverted git? When he looked back, Buffy was already walking out the door into the bathroom again to change. Spike heaved a huge sigh and plopped down on the bed, practically growling in frustration.
Spike had been terrified the previous night. He knew Buffy pretty well by now, and he had known for a while that she could take care of herself. But he worried about upsetting her emotionally; she was much better now, but she was still very fragile when it came to anything that reminded her of Angel. She never mentioned it anymore, but every time something came up that might remind her of her ex she got a look in her eyes that broke his unbeating heart. He didn't mention the fact that he loved anymore, either. The last time he had told her how he felt about her was before they fought Ken. He wanted more than anything to be able to tell her he loved her again, and make her believe it, but he didn't know how to do so without upsetting her.
Buffy came back into the room, fully dressed. Spike, desperate to not make things awkward, tried to make civil conversation.
"What are you doin' today?" he asked. Buffy shrugged.
"Not going to school; I'm expelled. I think Willow and I might go out later on after she gets her homework done. Until then, maybe I'll hang with my mom." Seeing the dejected look on Spike's face, she backpedaled. "Of course, I don't think she'll have a problem if you were to tag along. I don't see us going out anywhere. We might just rent a movie or something."
"Your mum doesn't like me very much, pet."
"She just doesn't know you very well. She'll get used to you."
Spike shrugged. "Alright . . . just don't make me watch another one of those bleedin' chick flicks."
Three hours later, Spike, Joyce, and Buffy were sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching Gone with the Wind. Spike had his arm across Buffy's shoulders on the couch, and was trying not to growl and roll his eyes. He hadn't liked this movie the first time he saw it when it came out in 1939, and he certainly didn't like it now.
Joyce tried to pay attention to the movie, but found herself looking at her daughter and her new . . . boyfriend, for lack of a better term. It was obvious, at least to her, that Spike cared very much for Buffy. She felt bad that she was so protective over Buffy; she knew that Spike was uncomfortable around Joyce because of her behavior. She looked over at Buffy, and was pleased to note that her normally tense daughter was very relaxed in the arms of the bleached vampire. Joyce settled back on the sofa, content.
Around six o'clock, Buffy called Willow.
"Hello?" Willow picked up the phone.
"Hey Wills."
"Buffy! Whatcha doing?"
"Nothing much. What are you doing later on tonight?" Buffy was slightly nervous; she hadn't seen Willow for more than ten minutes in four months. She didn't want to intrude on any plans she might have had.
"Nothing much. Want to go to the Bronze?"
Buffy was grateful that her friend had asked her first. She had the suspicion that Willow knew what she was going through. Buffy opened up her mouth to accept, then thought of something.
"Do you think Xander is going to be there?"
"He won't be. He and Cordelia have a date tonight; it's Cordy's birthday." Buffy had forgotten all about that. She didn't imagine how she could have spaced that out. Willow and Cordelia's birthdays were a week apart, with Cordy's coming first.
"Alright. Um . . . think it would be. . .um . . ." Buffy searched for the words to explain, without making her best friend feel unwelcome. Willow beat her to it.
"Bring Spike, and I'll bring Oz. He doesn't have an issue with you and Spike."
"Are you sure? He didn't seem to have any problems last night, but then again he's always monosyllabic. It's hard to tell exactly what he's thinking," Buffy said, once again not wanting her relationship with Spike to interfere with her friends' lives, and she certainly didn't want any of her decisions to screw up Willow's relationship with Oz.
"He's fine with it. We talked about it at the Bronze last night. He's totally cool."
Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."
"See you guys at the Bronze, eight o'clock?"
"I'll be there. Thanks, Wills."
At seven thirty, Buffy finished her make-up and put on the black dress and leather jacket that she had picked out for tonight. She hadn't really thought about it before, but this would be like double-dating with willow. She wanted to make sure she looked alright. After an hour of trying to figure out which outfit to wear, she decided on the black. She pulled her hair up into a clip and put the finishing touches on her lipstick. Buffy grabbed her purse and walked downstairs.
Spike was sitting in the living room watching Friends when Buffy walked downstairs. Wanting to see what was happening between Ross and Rachel, Spike did not even turn his head at first. Buffy moved closer to him, and in the corner of his eye he caught the sight of her dress—or rather, the length of it, which was giving him a pretty nice view of her legs. He stifled a gasp.
"My God," he breathed. Buffy blushed slightly.
Spike stood up, not taking his eyes off Buffy. She wore this to go out with me?
Buffy stood still, not knowing whether to go toward him or retreat in fear. Spike cupped her face in his hand. He had to restrain himself from pulling her towards him and kissing her; instead, he pulled back.
"You look beautiful, love," he said.
"Thank you."
Joyce walked in and noticed the tension between the couple, smiling slightly. She cleared her throat.
"You all ready to go?"
Buffy and Spike tore their eyes away from each other with some difficulty.
"Yeah Mom," Buffy said, still blushing slightly at Spike's reaction to her. "We're all set."
"Alright. Be careful."
Spike walked to the door and held it open for Buffy. She stared at him for a moment before walking through it. Was Spike just being a gentleman? Whoa.
"See you, Joyce," Spike said, walking out the door.
"Have a nice night you two," Joyce replied. She watched them walk out the door with a small grin on her face.
She better keep him, she thought.
Willow waved to Spike and Buffy from her table when she saw them walk into the Bronze. Willow noticed immediately that Buffy had tried harder than normal to look perfect. She also could not help but notice how Spike looked at her; as though he had just met a god.
Buffy and Spike sat down at the table. "Hey, Wills. Hey, Oz." Oz simply nodded at Buffy in acknowledgement. She wasn't too worried; for Oz, it was nothing out of the ordinary for him not to greet her with words.
"How's school?" Buffy asked Willow, attempting to keep conversation rolling.
"Fine. Snyder's still a big dummyhead, but other than that, same old stuff. No demons coming out of the library lately or anything, though."
Buffy smiled. "I think we can count that as a 'yay' thing, Will."
Suddenly the band started up a new song, and Willow's eyes lit up. "Ohh, come on, we have to dance to this one!" Willow got up and pulled Oz onto the dance floor. Buffy looked over at Spike.
"You want to?" she asked.
Spike nodded. "Yeah, pet. Come on."
He took her hand and led her out by Willow and Oz, dancing with her. Spike began to feel nervous now; he was seriously trespassing on her personal space, something he tried to never do. However, Buffy didn't seem to mind. How was he supposed to keep himself away from her if she wouldn't let him? No other female had ever brought out these emotions in him before. He had never really worried about Drusilla's feelings so much. Dru had been very outgoing in her feelings towards him, and had been a bit of a masochist. With Buffy he treated her as if she were a porcelain doll, about to break at any moment. He didn't see how he was ever going to be around her without worrying about her constantly.
Right now, however, Spike just tried to forget about all of that, dancing with Buffy and watching her face light up in joy. He knew that her expression right then would not be something he would forget easily.
The song ended, and Buffy motioned toward Willow and Oz, who were going back to the table to sit down.
"I'm gonna go get a drink. You want something?" Oz asked Willow.
"Sprite, please," Willow said to Oz gratefully.
Spike looked down at Buffy. "You want something, pet?"
"Uh, yeah. Just a coke, please." Buffy pulled out her wallet and started to pull out a few dollar bills, only to turn and see Spike waking away already. She shrugged and put he wallet back into her purse; she'd give Spike the money back later.
Willow looked at the two guys before turning back to Buffy.
"Okay missy, I don't have much time. We gotta talk," Willow said bluntly. Buffy looked taken aback.
"What about?"
Willow sighed. This could be difficult. "How do you feel about spike?"
Now Buffy was really surprised. "About Spike?" Willow nodded.
"I don't know. He's . . . I guess he's my friend. He and I have been through some stuff. Neither of us want anything serious." Not entirely true, Buffy thought.
Willow rolled her eyes. "You know Buffy, you really exasperate me sometimes. Hasn't he told you he loves you?" Buffy gulped. How did she know that?
"Yeah, but . . . I mean, this is Spike!" Buffy exclaimed. She refused to tell Willow how much she wanted Spike to care about her the way she cared about him. Unfortunately, she didn't know whether or not she could trust Spike, no matter how much he had done for her. She had just gotten out of a rocky relationship; she didn't want to have to go through another one.
"Buffy, look at him," Willow said gently. Buffy did turn around and look. She saw Spike, notorious vampire, standing in line at the Bronze to get her a Coke. She turned back to face Willow.
"He loves you," Willow said softly. Buffy felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she fought them.
"I don't know how to do this, Wills."
"I've seen how he is with you. He's as scared as you are. And as much as it surprises me, I honestly don't think he's going to hurt you. He's afraid to."
Buffy thought about that. It certainly would explain why he was so distant with her.
"He hasn't said he loves me since we left L.A. . ."
Willow groaned. "In the state that you're in, would you have said something like that to someone? He's scared."
Buffy unconsciously held her breath as realization struck her. Willow smiled. Now she gets it . . .
Buffy rose from her seat and hugged her best friend.
"Thank you." Buffy pulled back. "When did you become the love doctor anyway?"
"Don't need to be a doctor to see that you two oblivious idiots are in love with each other. Speaking of which . . ."
Buffy turned to see their dates walking towards them, Spike carrying a Budweiser and a Coke. Buffy smiled as she saw Spike paying careful attention to her soda so that it wouldn't spill.
Spike set the Coke in front of her on a napkin. "Here you are, love."
"Thank you, Spike."
Another song started playing, much more slowly than the one before it. Buffy looked up at Spike shyly.
"Wanna dance with me?" she asked him. Spike looked at Buffy curiously, nodding. They got up from the table and walked out onto the dance floor, Buffy putting her arms around Spike's neck as she slow-danced with him.
"Thank you," Buffy said, "for being here with me. I don't tell you that often enough."
"Welcome, love," Spike answered, wondering what had come over her. It struck him how nervous she looked. What did those two birds talk about while I was getting drinks anyway?
They danced fro a while, neither of them brave enough to say anything. Spike decided to bite the bullet.
"I'm here for you anytime you need me, love," Spike said, looking straight into her eyes. Buffy couldn't bring herself to look away from his bright blue eyes. "I love you."
Suddenly Buffy brought him closer and kissed him hard. Spike felt his eyes widen, then he kissed her back. They broke apart a few seconds later, staring at each other.
"I love you," Buffy said.
Spike kissed her again. Then he pulled back and smiled slightly.
Across the dance floor, Willow looked at Oz and smirked.
"Told ya so," she said.
A/N: So sorry you guys had to wait this long . . . I'm working on chapter eight now, and it should be up in a few days. PLEASE review!
